ClazUK Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thanks for the ideas, guys. I'll see what Helen comes up with but I love both the chequerboard grass/slabs idea and the idea of a tiny lawn at the bottom of the garden. Also, if I ever get my housebunny, it will need something to mow Cher, Gary & I had a spectacular lavateria at one of our houses in Reading. It did the same as yours. IIRC we pruned it back drastically and it came back the following year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtychicken Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Some daffodils posing in a sunbeam That is a beautiful photo, Victoria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zico's mum Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Does anyone have a solar powered fountain at all? I really like this jug type but even at half price it's still a lot of money if it won't work.My garden is tiny so only want something small and this would fit in a corner at the end with the solar panel on shed roof which does get sun a lot of the day. Cycas your garden is lovely,and those views are brill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted March 26, 2009 Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 Most of my back garden has trees and bushes around the edge of it, most are well established, tall and stop nosey parkers opposite seeing into our garden. There is one corner that is bare though, well it's not bare but the shrub there looks straggley and doesn't really do anything. I want to replace it with something that'll fill the gap and get quite tall quickly, ie over 6 foot. I've got several buddleias which do the job but I'd like to try something different. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted March 26, 2009 Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 Does anyone have a solar powered fountain at all? I really like this jug type but even at half price it's still a lot of money if it won't work.My garden is tiny so only want something small and this would fit in a corner at the end with the solar panel on shed roof which does get sun a lot of the day. My mother has a thing for solar powered fountains though I don't think she has one of those. I might get her one for her birthday actually, it's the sort of thing she'd like! I find with solar powered stuff that it works surprisingly well when new, the problem seems to be that a lot of stuff is not that well made and bits start to fail quite fast when it's outside in the British damp. I have a set of solar lights that's 5 years old now and all the lamps are still going apart from one, but that's my best so far: various other solar things have died much more quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted March 26, 2009 Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 Most of my back garden has trees and bushes around the edge of it, most are well established, tall and stop nosey parkers opposite seeing into our garden. There is one corner that is bare though, well it's not bare but the shrub there looks straggley and doesn't really do anything. I want to replace it with something that'll fill the gap and get quite tall quickly, ie over 6 foot. I've got several buddleias which do the job but I'd like to try something different. Any ideas? Black Bamboo.......I've got two clumps and love it, it doesn't take over the garden like some bamboos, is evergreen, and go's a lovely shiney black on two year old stems, very dramatic, and you have a handy supply of chic plant supports. It does well in my windy garden in clay soil, does need a fair bit of feeding to get the best from it, but with all those chooks that won't be a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted March 26, 2009 Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 Bamboo would be good but we've already got one GIGANTIC one which I was thinking about severly pruning only this morning Like you, I use bits of it as canes I don't even know where to start on it though, it really is huge and takes up too much space, I guess it's too big to move too because it'd be fine in the space I need filling but is a pain where it is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted March 26, 2009 Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 Bamboo would be good but we've already got one GIGANTIC one which I was thinking about severly pruning only this morning Like you, I use bits of it as canes I don't even know where to start on it though, it really is huge and takes up too much space, I guess it's too big to move too because it'd be fine in the space I need filling but is a pain where it is You could try cutting some of it back to ground level, then digging the roots of the chopped bit up and replanting it in the bare bit, if it doesn't take then no harm done, to restrict it's growth you need to put some sort of barrier round it's roots so it can't spread any more, you might get away with doing it now as "shooting season" won't be for a few months yet, so it might put on a bit of root growth then shoot away. Or If you like Buddleia, have you looked at Buddleia Alternafolia ? it looks quite diffrent from the others, it has graceful arching stems which are covered in very fragrent small flowers all along the whole length of the stem, it can be trained into a tree, it grows to about 6-7 feet. nice picture ( it's not until you end up on a foreign web site you see the value in Latin names for plants lol ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted March 26, 2009 Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 Having inspected the bamboo this afternoon I don't think moving it is an option, I'm sure it's the only thing keeping the fence up over that side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merledogs Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 (edited) It's been lovely and sunny today so I've been out in the garden for a few hours I have chopped down the two grapevines which dominated the arbour - it took a good couple of hours to remove all the branches which were intertwined and then chop them all up. Looks much better now and it should give the wisteria and other plant (not sure what it is) a chance to grow now, so look forward to that. It's also much more open in that corner of the garden now as the grapevine blocked out all the light. I have also been chopping branches off my next door neighbour's tree which overhung my garden. The tree is on the side of the garden which is shady and the branches overhanging my garden were blocking out light, making it even darker so they had to go. I did not enjoy having to climb up a ladder to do it though, twas a bit scary hanging onto a branch above your head while trying to chop it down Edited March 29, 2009 by merledogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abby Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 I'm exhausted just reading that ALex I have planted my first veg today a customer gave me some baby cabbage plants and they are now sunning themselves in some growbags Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 Lovely day here too, the wind died down at last and I managed to get some grass seed down ( I've had fleece spread out for the past week and a bit in an attempt to warm the soil up a bit), cut the grass on the highest blade, went and got yet more pea shingle for my hen run (which is now complete.....just need some hens now ), and did a bit of weeding............I is officially knacked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happylittlegreensquirrel Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 Having inspected the bamboo this afternoon I don't think moving it is an option, I'm sure it's the only thing keeping the fence up over that side Random bamboo fact , elephants can eat bamboo but there are differing opinions re how good a food source it is. My elephant mentor in Sri Lanka says large amounts of bamboo can temporarily stop a male elephant coming into Musth ( heat ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abby Posted April 1, 2009 Report Share Posted April 1, 2009 I have a greenhouse And some cabbage plants, which you can jsut see in the growbag. And I've just order 3 veg grow bags and some potatos to grow for £3.99 plus a load of begonias free! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantan Posted April 1, 2009 Report Share Posted April 1, 2009 I used to have a green house just like that. It did really well for a number of years but got trashed when we did the renovations last year. I've just put me tatties in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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